Cole sat on the floor in front of Rhett. Rhett massaged his shoulders and stared at the laptop as Cole typed away, hammering out last minute emails before the launch on New Year’s Eve.

“I don’t know why I’m bothering with any of this.”

“Because you love the vineyard and you won’t abandon her. I know this didn’t go how we planned, Cole, but we’ll get through it.”

Cole scoffed and hit send, his finger aggressively stabbing at the laptop. “You’re the only good thing that has come out of this.” His voice quieted, “I feel like I’ve let you down.”

Rhett leaned down, wrapping his arms around Cole’s shoulders, and setting his chin on the top of his head. “You’ve done no such thing. You, Mr. Mallory, have exceeded all my expectations.”

Cole turned his head and looked at him. The sadness in his eyes had lingered there since Christmas Day and there was a large part of Rhett that hated Cole’s grandparents, and Kristen, who didn’t even care about the vineyard. “I’ll still do what I can to help you launch your business, Rhett. I can sell the house. It’s in my name; they can’t take it from me.”

He put his hand over Cole’s mouth. “You’ll do no such thing. We will figure this out, Cole. Maybe there’s a way you can stay on at the vineyard.”

Cole shook his head. “Edward said his people would be in touch with mine about the transition. It’s a done deal. There’s nothing I can do, Rhett.” Cole turned back to the laptop and stared at the screen, then clicked over to the online checklist to check the status of some of the last minute tasks.

“Everything is on schedule, so far.” Rhett explained, pointing at the screen. “The decorations go up tomorrow. I have to be there to oversee the flower delivery and get the caterers organized. Macy will be there two hours before the event starts to get some shots of the decor and the product. Elena will take over for me when I need to leave and get dressed.”

“You’re really good at this.” Cole leaned over and kissed Rhett’s forearm as he continued to point at things on the screen. “I--”

“Stop,” Rhett cut him off. “If the next words out of your mouth are anything but I can’t wait to kiss my fiancé at midnight, then I don’t want to hear them.” Rhett closed the laptop, then slid off the couch and onto the floor, wedging himself in behind Cole. “No more apologies. It’s done and we did our best, and we’ll do our best, and then we’ll do our best somewhere else, together.”

Cole leaned against Rhett, his head resting heavily on his shoulder. “I love this place. I love the vineyard. I love the grapes. I love the work,” he said as he twisted around to look at Rhett, “but I love you more.”

Rhett kissed the corner of Cole’s mouth. “That’s more like it.” His heart ached for Cole and all that he’d lost. Cole spoke with his mother briefly the day after Christmas and she assured him that she’d done her best to reach out to his grandparents to change their minds, but it was already too late. The vineyard was Kristen’s and Kristen was apparently refusing to talk about it. She’d waved her mother off with an airy sigh and called the whole ordeal bothersome.

“I have an idea,” Rhett said suddenly, getting to his feet. “Stay there. Don’t move.”

He went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of their new sparkling wine, a couple of glasses, and a tray of cheese and meat from the fridge. He returned to the living room and set everything down on the coffee table. He turned the television off, which had been playing I Love Lucy reruns in the background all day.

“What are you doing?” Cole asked from his spot on the floor.

“One minute.” Rhett grabbed a blanket off the couch and spread it out in front of the Christmas tree. He brought the wine and cheese over to the blanket then motioned for Cole to join him.

They sat cross-legged on the floor and Rhett poured them each a glass of wine.

“A few months ago, my only dream was to plan events. But then I met you, and you gave me a new dream.” Rhett raised his glass and Cole gently clinked his against the side of it, the chime of glass kissing singing in the air. “To us.”

“To us,” Cole repeated, taking a drink.

“We could go anywhere. Do anything. We could move to New York and work on Broadway.”

Cole snorted. “We really couldn’t do that.”

Rhett grinned and shrugged a shoulder. “We could. We can do anything. That’s the rules tonight. Nothing is too outrageous. Nothing is out of our reach. If you could do anything, what would it be?”

Cole thought for a minute. “I’d be a beekeeper. I’d make flavored honey.” His face took on a mischievous expression and he reached for a slice of cheese. “I’d make you my official honey tester. I bet you’d taste good drizzled in honey.” Cole picked up a slice of cheese and fed Rhett from his fingers. “Your turn. What would you do?”

Rhett ate the cheese and took that time to consider his options. “I’d travel the world as a professional ping pong player. Or maybe I’d go to Japan and work in a cat café.”

“We could open one here. Fill it with old, fat, shelter cats.”

“We could make Ryan work there on weekends so we could sleep in.”

Cole clinked their glasses together again. “I like the way you think. I bet Tyson would love it there.”

“Penny wouldn’t, she’s allergic.”

“Hmn, so maybe no cat café. We want something where our family can visit us.”

Rhett slid closer to Cole. “Aww, you called her family.” He only needed to sort of pretend that he was choked up. The reality was that it meant the world to him that Cole treated the things and the people that were precious to Rhett as also being precious to him. Rhett leaned in and pressed his lips against Cole’s. “We’d run a vineyard,” Rhett whispered against Cole’s mouth. “We’d run a vineyard and you’d make wine and I’d plan parties and we would live happily ever after.”

“It’s the perfect end to a perfect story.” Cole agreed, deepening the kiss. He pulled away, then moved the wine glasses and the cheese plate aside and kissed Rhett again, pressing him down into the blanket, smothering him with his weight, doing nothing more than kissing him and holding him.

“Walk with me.” Cole whispered breathlessly against Rhett’s cheek. Rhett agreed, and they stood, straightening their rumpled clothing. Cole grabbed the bottle of wine and they headed out into the backyard.

Though not part of the event tomorrow night, Rhett hadn’t been able to resist decorating Cole’s portion of the vineyard with twinkle lights. Rhett smiled and squeezed Cole’s hand. “Did you know that my mom always wanted to see the entire vineyard lit up with twinkle lights?”

“No.” Cole answered, taking a sip of wine from the bottle, then passing it off to Rhett. “Is that where your obsession with them comes from?”

“A little, I suppose. They’re so…glamorous isn’t really the way to describe them,” Rhett chewed on his lower lip.

“Ethereal,” Cole offered. “They transform the mundane into something magical.”

Rhett took a sip of wine to quench the heat inside of him. “Yeah. That’s it exactly.”

“She’d be proud of you, you know.” Cole said, holding Rhett’s hand a little tighter. “She’d like the person you became.”

“She’d like you, too,” Rhett offered Cole the wine.

Cole took it and gave him an odd look. “Do you think drinking wine in front of the grapes is appropriate? It’s like drinking the blood of their dead in front of them.”

“I’m fairly certain that they don’t know. Plants don’t really understand, Cole.”

“You’d never say that about Lucy or Ricky.” Cole shot back, tipping the wine up and taking another drink.

“They’re not just plants. They’re special.”

“Maybe the grapes are special.”

“Then no, baby, it’s probably not appropriate to consume the dead in front of the living.”

“Oops. Too late.” Cole took another drink of wine then pulled Rhett in close to him. “Is it inappropriate to do this in front of the sentient grapes?” Cole asked before kissing Rhett, pulling their bodies together until no air or light could exist between them.

Rhett could still feel Cole the next morning when he crept downstairs and into the kitchen. Cole didn’t need to be up for another hour, but Rhett wanted to get to the vineyard and make sure he was on top of things. He left a note for Cole, promising to be back in plenty of time to change into his tuxedo.

The event tonight had to be perfect, even though it was his first, and possibly his last ever at Mallory. He’d rather die than let Cole down. The vineyard was everything to Cole, and though he’d lost it, Rhett knew he still wanted to see it succeed.

He spent the morning arranging flowers, issuing orders, handling caterers, and a late shipment. He’d totally lost track of time when Macy and Elena showed up at the same time. Macy was dressed in an elegant pantsuit, her hair pinned up and out of her way while Elena was the opposite in a long flowing gown and hair cascading down her back to match.

“You,” Elena said. “Get out of here. I have everything under control.”

Rhett’s stomach growled and he realized he hadn’t eaten all day. “Okay,” he said a little reluctantly. “But I’ll have my phone on. Call or text if you need anything.”

“I won’t.” Elena made a shooing motion even as Macy wandered around with her camera. “Get out of here.”

Rhett went home, a little surprised to find Cole’s car still in the driveway and when he walked into the house and smelled something delicious cooking, he was doubly confused. “Cole, baby? I’m back.” Rhett called out, kicking his shoes off and heading to the kitchen.

“Hey, you.” Cole tossed him a happy smile over his shoulder then went back to cooking. “I made us a quick dinner. It’s going to be a long night. Elena told me that everything at the vineyard is ready.”

Rhett sighed and rolled his shoulders. He was exhausted and the day was far from being over. “Everything is as ready as it’s going to get. I have time for food, then to dress, and then we need to get up there.”

Cole turned the stove off and grabbed a couple of plates from the cupboard. “Relax, baby,” he said as he spooned some homemade macaroni and cheese onto a plate. Rhett must have looked at him funny because Cole grinned, handing him a plate and a fork. “It’s not vegan, I promise.”

“Good,” Rhett said, taking his plate from Cole. “Because your boyfriend is not vegan.”

“My fiancé is not vegan.” Cole corrected. “But he is amazing.”

“Mmm,” Rhett hummed. “No, I think my fiancé is better than yours.”

Cole leaned in and pressed his lips against Rhett’s. “Them’s fighting words.”

“So fight me.” Rhett shrugged and shoveled another bite of food into his mouth.

“Not tonight. Tonight, we dance.”

“You look like you’re in a better mood than you have been,” Rhett observed.

“I am, because I have you and that’s all that matters. My fiancé told me that.”

“You’re right,” Rhett beamed. “Your fiancé is better than mine.”